The Book
by EraganShan
Summary: A one shot in honor of Valentine's Day. Raven finds a book on Valentine's Day and it leads to what she thinks is an unexpected outcome.


Raven forgot what day it was. In hindsight she should have know what today was considering Starfire was ecstatic about her first time experiencing this holiday. The red, pink, and white hearts all over the tower should have been enough. Starfire giving them heart shaped candy should have been enough. All the couples she saw when she was walking to the park should have been enough but no. She had to forget that today was Valentine's Day. It wasn't like her to forget things, especially with such obvious clues but she was right in the middle of it now.

It wasn't as if she was worried about finding a valentine like other girls, she didn't even understand the whole concept. You ask someone to be your valentine and then you spend the rest of the day head over heels with each other? Why would you want to lose your independence and _be_ somebody's? How was it different than any other day? Unless she was missing the secret to Valentine's Day, it seemed like any other day to her. Sure there were a plentiful amount of couples walking through the park but that could happen on any day. What made this one so special?

No, Raven wasn't worried about finding a valentine, she wasn't even irritated with all the couples. Raven was annoyed with the people who wouldn't leave her alone. She had a running tally. Since she entered the park 30 minutes ago, 4 cocky guys had approached her and asked her to be their valentine, all confident that she would say yes. Raven didn't even stop walking and bluntly said, "No." Barely sparing them a look. 2 girls had asked her if she had a valentine and were shot down just as fast.

Usually the civilians left her alone when she came to the park. They were wary of her and she was just fine with that. But no. Today was _different _and they wouldn't stop pestering her. It was a shame that she was going to have to cut her outing short. Right now, she was sitting on a bench in front of a fountain, holding her book she brought. Raven was glaring at the perverted group of guys who had taken it upon themselves to give every girl who walked by a score out of 10. They were sitting in a circle, each holding cardboard signs. When Raven walked by them, she sent them a glare so cold that they all sheepishly looked away and none of them raised a sign.

Now, she saw them giving scores to an extremely uncomfortable looking, blonde haired girl. The girl was just trying to walk by as fast as possible without being noticed. The guys were holding up signs ranging from six to nine while some wolf whistled. Raven couldn't take it any longer. That wasn't the first girl who had been embarrassed but yet the boys persisted. She used her powers to rip their signs to shreds and glared at them as they ran.

The blonde noticed and mouthed "Thanks."

Raven nodded and turned her attention to her book, remembering stepping outside her room and kicking it. She used her powers to try and detect any magic in it but there was none. As far as she could tell, it was a normal book.

Raven opened the cover to look at the summary on the inside of the flap. She wasn't expecting what she saw. In red marker a message was written on the bottom of the page. _In the spirit of Valentine's Day, let's play a little game Rae. _Raven furrowed her brow in confusion. _Go to page 20._

Well that's weird. I wonder who left the book. She turned to page 20 and found that some of the words on the page were highlighted. _First it was subtle. You didn't say much which made me want to find out more._

That was all for that page. At the bottom in red it said, _and I tried but you were hard to figure out which only made me more curious. Go to page 37._

"Very strange." Raven said while flipping to page 37. More highlighted words. _The more I discovered the more I thought. I realized you were funny first. _Written on the bottom of the page was, _your sarcasm makes me smile every time. Page 61 please._

So I'm funny? Ok then on to page 61. _I wouldn't trade our conversations for any amount of money. _Then at the bottom, _Conversing with you is a battle in itself of the mind. But unlike a real battle, I feel like even if I lose our verbal battles I still win the prize of just spending time with you. Aaaaaaaaaand page 13._

This was strange and not normal Raven thought. She wasn't used to compliments and this made her feel slightly uncomfortable reading this. Page 13. _I feel like when I'm near you, I grow high on your subtle scent. _At the bottom, _p.s. you smell like lavender. It's very subtle but it's intoxicating. To page 74 we go, to page 74 we go._

Raven looked at herself awkwardly. "Do I smell like lavender?" She mumbled to herself.

She brought her attention back to the book. _You're breathtakingly beautiful, _is all it said. Down at the bottom, _well that one was obvious but I thought you needed to know. You are absolutely beautiful and I find myself staring at you whenever I get a chance. Page 153._

Raven tried to hide the blush appearing on her face but lost. It soaked through and revealed itself as she read the next words. _You have the most amazing smile I've ever seen. _Raven highly doubted that. Her few smiles she let out were awkward. Continuing on to the bottom, _I know you don't smile much, but when you do it brightens my whole world. Almost done even though I could go on forever. Page 83._

Finding the page, Raven continued intently. _You're graceful in every way possible. _In red marker it said, _p.s. you look so peaceful when you're meditating or when you're asleep. I wish I could fight away all your problems so you always looked that peaceful. Last one, back of the book._

Raven slowly arrived at the back of the book and saw a paragraph in red marker. _It took me a long time to realize this, but I love you. Everything. I have to say one of my favorite things you do though is when you leave your hood down. You're beautiful and don't think any differently. I swear it's true. _A shadow also cast itself across the book but Raven just leaned forward, too engrossed in the words to do anything else. _I wish I told you how I felt before today but I didn't have the guts. I was stuck watching from a distance when I so badly wanted to cross it. But I didn't and I am thankful to whatever got this idea into my head. As long as you know I care. That I care so much. I don't care if you don't return my feelings. Just as long as you know that I will always be there for you. Raven, as long as you understand how much I care about you, I will be the happiest man alive._

There was one more sentence and when she read it, a voice in front of her said it at the same time. "Raven, will you be my valentine?"

Raven was shocked. She knew that voice but why was he asking her? She slowly tore her eyes from the book and looked up to see a smiling Boy Wonder standing there. In his hand was a white rose that he held out to her. Raven reached up and gently took the rose out of his hand. She brought it to her nose and smelled it, smiling slightly.

She closed her eyes and thought, still smelling the rose. Well this is a surprising turn of events she decided. I thought he liked Starfire? Thoughts of Starfire were overruled by the strange emotion welling up inside of her. She felt happy. She hadn't felt this level of happiness for a long time. It astounded her how Robin made her feel so happy. Opening her eyes again, she noticed that Robin hadn't moved an inch. He appeared to be holding his breath in anticipation for her answer.

Raven couldn't hold it in any longer. Something changed in those few moments but she didn't know what. She thought about her earlier thoughts. About losing her independence. Being somebody's Valentine didn't feel as unappealing as it had earlier. It didn't feel like she was losing her independence to him, but she couldn't describe what it was actually like either. Yes something changed. It could have been her mindset about the holiday changing or maybe adding Robin into the mix but she found herself smiling and nodding at Robin. "Yes. Yes I will be your valentine."

Robin looked as if he might jump for joy. His smile dominated his face and he suddenly remembered something. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small rectangle, black box and held it out to Raven, who was now standing in front of him.

Not saying a word, Raven slowly took the box from his hand and opened it. She gasped at what she saw. Inside the black box lying upon a layer of deep blue velvet was a necklace. The necklace had a black chain with a silver bird hanging on it. The bird was a raven and it had its wings spread wide.

Robin graciously took the box from her hands and pulled the necklace out. He lightly touched Raven's shoulders and spun her around. He pulled her hair out of the way and placed the necklace around her neck. Once it was fastened, he let her hair return to its normal position and turned her to him again. Raven looked down at the necklace, then at his hands which were still on her shoulders, then at his face. There was a blush on her face as she said, "Thank you Robin."

"You're welcome. Starfire helped me pick it out."

Raven shook her head. "I meant for asking me. Thank you."

"Thank you for saying yes. So what do you want to do, I have to have you back at the tower by 10 though otherwise Cyborg will kill me."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Why would he do that?"

"Oh he already gave me the whole speech when he figured out I was going to ask you. I was warned to be a perfect gentleman and keep my distance or face his wrath." Robin said remembering the whole lecture.

"I'm sure you would have done that anyways. And I can take care of myself."

Robin laughed. "Oh I know you can. So back to what do you want to do?"

"We could take a walk." She suggested.

"A walk sounds lovely." Robin said while gesturing for her to lead.

As she nodded her head in agreement, Robin carefully grabbed her hand and held it. Raven was shocked at first but relaxed and started walking. Raven thought back to her thoughts on Valentine 's Day earlier. Maybe there's more to this day than I thought she thought as she and Robin walked hand in hand throughout the park.

**Hm. I don't really like a lot in this one but I couldn't seem to think of anything else. Oh well. I hope you guys like it at least and I really really hope you review. Haha anyways Happy Valentine's Day!**


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